Blotter-bath and absorbent composition therefor



(No Model.)

P. L'. FAIRBANK & T. N. CANTRIL. BLOTTER BATH AND ABSORBENT COMPOSITION THEREFOR.

No. 603,841. Patented May 10, 1898.

(i v gy /J oasmemmmww STATES FRED L. FAIRBANK AND THEODRIO N. OANTRIL, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

BLOTTER-BATH AND ABSOR BENT COMPOSITION THEREFOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 603,841, dated May 10, 1898. Application filed October 26, 1896. Serial No. 610,169. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED L. FAIRBANK and THEODRIC N. OANTRIL, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Blotter-Bath and Absorbent Composition Therefor, of which the following is a specification.

Our object is to provide a device of simple, strong, and durable construction designed to receive one or more blotter pads or cloths and to hold the same in a smoothly-pressed condition and retain sufficient moisture to dampen any number of blotters or cloths placed therein and retain the blotters or cloths in proper condition for use for a comparatively great length of time.

I-Ieretofore a tray adapted to retain a block of wood or other porous material and a cover or plate adapted to lie flat on the top surface of the block in the tray have been used in combination with a copying-press in such a manner that thecover or plate could be supported in a vertical position by means of a transverse strip fixed to the bottom of the .tray near its end, and therefore our further object is to provide a cover that is weighted with a porous .material to serve as a press, so that no extraneous weight or press need be used.

Our object is, further, to provide a cheap and durable composition that will absorb a large quantity of moisture and yet retain its shape and not soften.

Our invention consists in certain details in the construction of the blotter-bath and in the composition for lining the same, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the complete device and in an open position. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the same closed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the body of the bath is seen to be composed of a sheet-metal pan A, preferably reinforced by a wire A around its top and having a transverse partition 13 near its one end about half as high as the sides of the pan to produce a compartment from which Water placed in the bottom of the pan will be excluded, so

that when the end of the cover and weighty porous material are intended to be supported by the end of the pan and the partition, as shown in Fig. 1, the porous matter combined with the metal cover will not absorb water. The bottom of the pan from the said partition to the opposite end is filled with the absorbent material, hereinafter described, on a level with said partition.

The top is composed of a flat metal part 0, havingits edges bent downwardly, and a layer of the'absorbent material under it levelwith the downturned edges. A knob or handle D is attached to its top near one end and its other overlaps the partition B. When it is desired to raise the cover, the said knob or handle is grasped and the one end elevated. The remaining end will rest against the partition B and the end of the pan, and thus be held in an upright position.

The absorbent composition is composed of the following ingredients in about the following proportions: plaster-of-paris, sixty parts; charcoal, pulverized, five parts; sulfur, five parts; salt, two parts; water, forty parts; ce-

ment, five parts. All the ingredients excepting the salt are placed in-a suitable vessel or machine and well mixed into a plastic state by stirring and the salt in a granular state then added and distributed through the mass by stirring or kneading. The composition is then placed in the pan and cover and the surfaces made smooth, so that they will overlie each other as required to moisten paper between them when dried and hard. The particles of salt dissolve,and the substance there- I of is absorbed by the remaining solids to aid in hardening the composition and to produce minute cells and increased porosity to adapt the composition for absorbing and distributing water evenly to paper placed between the two parts. The particles of charcoal and sulfur also aid in producing porosity and adapting the composition for the purposes contemplated.

In practical use the absorbent composition is moistened, and thenthe blotters or cloths are placed in the pan on top of the porous and moist filling therein and the metal cover and weighty porous matter carried thereby' over the matter that is to be moistened and pressed. It is obvious that by capillary at- IOG I traction from the composition the same will be moistened and that the weight of the cover will press the blotters or cloths out smooth and exclude air, so that the moisture will not be quickly carried off.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. The herein described composition of matter, comprising plaster-of-paris, charcoal,

sulfur, salt, cement and Water in about the,

proportions stated, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A blotter-bath comprising a pan having a transverse partition near one end, an absorbent composition having a flat top surface placed in the pan, a metal cover for the pan having a heavy absorbent filling that has a smooth surface and is adapted to overlie the absorbent in the pan, and the cover, and absorbent therein, adapted to standon end in the vacant end of the pan, as and for the purposes stated.

3. An absorbent composition for blotterbath consisting of plaster-of-paris, charcoal and water in about the proportions stated.

4:. A blotter-bath, comprising a pan, an ab sorbent composition having a fiat top surface placed in the pan and a cover fitted to the pan and an absorbent composition having a flat surface combined with the cover, for the purposes stated.

FRED L; FAIRBANK. TI-IEODRIO N. OANTRIL. Witnesses:

NV. J. SANK Y,

THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

